At night.
Baron Barco enters his bed chambers drunk from a day at the brothel. Even though he has taken a wife who even bore him a son, that didn’t stop his habit of visiting the brothel every now and then.
He walks towards the bed with his wobbly footsteps where his wife slumbers silently. He stands next to the bed rocking back and forth as if he is on a boat out on the open sea. He smiles creepily and opens his mouth.
“H-honey, your boo *burp* is baaack.” Says Barco followed by a girly giggle.
Usually, the wife would respond by throwing a pillow at him but unlike usual, she is orderly quiet.
“Playing hard to g-get huh. Well, you asked for this.” Says Barco as his fingers twitch uncontrollably.
He grabs the blanket that his wife had covered herself with and yanks it off her. Instead of seeing his wife’s frustrated face like usual, he could only see her lifeless corpse laying on the bed. She has her mouth gaping wide and blood all over the bed. The blood is still slightly wet indicating that she had died a few minutes ago if not an hour. But one thing is visible. She died painfully as her face shows nothing but terror.
Surprised, Barco stumbles upon his own legs. Sobered by his wife’s death, he bolts out of the room screaming.
“GUARDS, GUARDS, HELP! SHE’S… SHE’S… MY WIFE’S NOT MOVING.”
Surprised by the shock, he didn’t even notice the quietness of the mansion. In fact, while he is screaming his lungs out calling for the guards, his mind is set on running to his son’s room.
The door of his son’s room opens abruptly.
“KEVIN! KEVIN MY SON! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?”
Even though he has roared out loud to the point of waking everyone in the entire mansion, Kevin did not respond. He walks slowly to his son’s bed as his legs shake in fear, hoping that the worst case didn’t come true. But his hope is shattered. Kevin laid there in the pool of his own blood but unlike his mother who vomited blood, he had a knife wound on his neck.
The wound is precise to the point one who is adept at using knives could tell that he died without feeling any pain.
“KEVIIIIIN, NOOOOO! NOT MY SON. PLEASE DEAR GODDESS DON’T TAKE MY ONE AND ONLY SOOOON! AHHHHHH!!!!”
The mansion fills with the wails of Barco but even then, nobody comes. But why is that? After crying a river, that question crosses his mind. He then remembers how he didn’t even find a single guard stationed outside his mansion.
Nobody welcomed him back home like usual. As he holds his son’s corpse in his arms, he notices a streak of blood on the wall. The streak leads outside the door of his son’s room.
He lets go of the corpse and with eyes filled with determination of revenge, he follows the blood streak.
He didn’t care who it was at the end of the blood streak. If it was his enemy, then he would show no mercy and kill them. If it was one of his servants who miraculously survived, then he would kill them after getting information. Of course, there was also the possibility of the person being already dead but that thought never crossed his mind.
The blood streak leads him to his office where the door is slightly open. He pushes the door slightly and browse what’s in front of his view. It’s pitch black with only the moonlight illuminating the room. After entering, he finds nothing inside his office.
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Maybe it is his anger or maybe he is still drunk but the person who is quietly sitting on a chair behind him opens his mouth.
“Took you long enough. I was doubtful if you’d ever get here.”
A somewhat familiar voice stuns Barco. He turns slowly as the person who just spoke comes to view. Illuminated by the moonlight, Zeke is sitting on the chair with a knife at hand, covered in blood.
“You. YOU!!!”
Barco wastes no time and charges at Zeke with all his strength. Zeke stands up and smashes the chair on Barco’s body. He falls face first to the ground. Barco pulls his pained body and charges once more like a deranged animal. Zeke nonchalantly dodges all of Barco’s enraged attacks as he counters with his own, all connecting.
After a few minutes, Barco is beaten into a bloody pulp.
“Are you done now?” asks Zeke.
Even though Zeke isn’t a combatant, he does have basic self-defence down. Opponents like Barco who have never fought in their entire life are nothing to Zeke who has experienced countless life and death situations.
“S-so, it was you? You killed my wife and my son.” Says Barco as he laid breathless on the floor, tears flowing from his swollen eyes.
“Yes.”
“Why? Why kill my baby boy? Why kill them?”
Tears rain down on Barco’s deformed face even harder.
“It’s because of you. You are the reason they are dead. You failed us again. What did you think was going to happened? And besides, I’m sure you told your wife about our Society at some point.”
It is true. Barco did tell his wife about the Society. Even though Barco wouldn’t use the word ‘love’ to describe what he feels for his wife, he did trust her.
“A-and Kevin. Why kill a mere boy?”
“I’m sorry but I hate loose ends. Even though he might not have known about us, who’s to say your boy wouldn’t grow up seeking revenge for the people who killed everyone in his home, including his parents.”
“W-wha… what? Everyone?”
“You didn’t notice? How laughable. Yes, everyone in the mansion is dead. Your guards, your servants, everyone died from poisoning. Like I said before, I really hate loose ends.”
Silence befalls the room. And then, a burst of laughter echoes out of Barco’s mouth as if whatever that was keeping him sane had disappeared.
“Hahaha, o-of course everyone’s dead. And I’m going to die too. But did you really think I’d repeat the same mistake after what you guys did last time. I was prepared this time. I SPREAD YOUR SOCIETY’S EXISTENCE TO EVERYONE I KNOW! I MADE SURE THAT THOSE PEOPLE DIDN’T LIVE HERE IN WAHAM! SOME LIVE IN THE CAPITAL, WHILE OTHERS LIVE AT THE END OF THE COUNTRY! I HAD TOLD THEM THAT IF I DIED, THEN THEY SHOULD SHARE YOUR SOCIETY’S INFORMATION TO EVERY INFORMATION GUILD OUT THERE. SOON THE WORLD WILL KNOW OF YOUR ORGANIZATION, HAHAHAHA!”
Zeke keeps quiet. Is it shock or is he thinking of the next move? Barco can’t do nothing but smile at the speechless Zeke. Even if he dies, if he can deal a dent on their Society, he doesn’t care.
A burst of laughter shocks him and the person laughing is none other than Zeke.
“OH man. I’m sorry, I really am sorry. I tried to keep a straight face but you just, kakakaka, you crack me up, you really do.”
Barco can’t help but be dumbfounded. After all, it was supposed to be a checkmate.
“DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND THE SEVERITY OF YOUR SITUATION? THE ORGANIZATION YOU SPENT ALL THIS TIME TRYING TO HIDE WILL BE KNOWN THROUGHOUT THE CONTINENT!”
The laughter didn’t stop. In fact, it grows louder and louder until finally, Zeke calms down.
“Hoo, I can’t remember ever laughing this hard. My stomach hurts so bad. Anyways, what you’re hoping for is a dead end.”
“W-what do you mean?”
“The people you told, Baron Willis, Viscount Nile, James Cook, Eddy Ran or was it Rant and 28 others. All those people and their families are no more. At least, tomorrow they’ll be no more.”
Barco’s eyes gape wide at the shocking revelation. After all, he had planned everything wisely. He thought to himself that if he were killed by the Bandit Society then he would at least take them with him.
But that isn’t the case. In fact, they knew everything from the start. His plans, the people he is friends with, everything. No, to be precise, the man who is standing before him knew everything from the start. And now, his friends are going to die because of him. Despair sinks within Barco’s eyes. Everything was his fault.
“If only you did your job correctly, I wouldn’t have had to kill a ten-year-old child.”
After saying that, Zeke slashes Baron Barco’s throat with the knife he has in his hand. Blood gushes out. Even after trying to stop the bleeding with his hands, the blood continues to flow, dying his office floor red. As Zeke leaves the room, his eyes are filled with a bit of sorrow.
Even though he had done this dozens of times, it never gets old. After all, this was common since he was ‘cleaning up’. As he leaves the mansion, flames engulf it whole as windows shatter from the intense heat.